UPDATES & ANALYSIS

Iowa Supreme Court limits delayed appeals in child welfare cases to termination of parental rights in recent opinion.

by Samuel Province | November 10, 2026

Submitted to the Court on September 10 for further review from the Iowa Court of Appeals, the Court filed its unanimous opinion on October 16, affirming the dismissal of a mother’s untimely appeal in In re E.S. The Court focused on whether a parent can obtain a delayed appeal under the Supreme Court’s 2021 opinion in In re A.B. to challenge permanency rulings in a child in need of assistance (CINA) case when the juvenile court declined to terminate parental rights.

In December 2023, after E.S.’s mother was arrested for possession of methamphetamine, the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services discovered that she was operating an unregistered daycare in her home, where two children tested positive for methamphetamine exposure. E.S. was removed from the home and placed with his father, who was later granted sole custody. The Court set September 26, 2025, as the deadline for the mother to file her petition on appeal. The mother represented herself and filed her petition a day late, which she attributed to issues converting a document and assurance from her standby counsel that September 27 was the correct date. The Court of Appeals dismissed her appeal, reasoning that a delayed appeal is not available where the cause of the delay is within the appellant’s control, and finding that the mother’s delay was within her control.

On further review, the Court noted that failure to meet a deadline results in dismissal, with the only exception being the narrow exception recognized in In re A.B., under which a delayed appeal may be allowed only where the parent clearly intended to appeal, the failure to timely perfect the appeal was outside the parent’s control, and the delay is “no more than negligible.”

However, the Court held that that exception only applies when the juvenile court terminated the appealing parent’s parental rights. Here, the juvenile court dismissed the termination petition, and the permanency rulings are not final; they will be reviewed annually by statute and may be modified in the child’s best interest. Accordingly, the Court found that the exception from In re A.B. did not apply and, though on a different rationale, affirmed the Court of Appeals’ decision dismissing the appeal.

Tags: Iowa Supreme Court 2026-27